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TO THE 
"^ OF THE 



Memorial from the Commissioners elected by the 
Reconstruction Conventipi^ of the 

STATE OF TEXAS, 

"To Represent the Condition of the State and the 
Wants of the loyal people." 



J. L. Pearson, Printer, corner 9th and i) streets. 



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Washington, D. C, 3Iarch 11, 1869. 
To the Senate and Souse of Representatives of the United States. 
Your memorialists were, by the Eeconstruction Convention of 
the State of Texas, elected " Commissioners to represent to the 
Congress of the United States, the condition of the State and the 
wants of her loyal people." In accordance with the resolutions of 
said Convention, adopted January 20, 1869, imposing this duty 
upon us, we beg most respectfully to submit herewith the follow- 
ing statements respecting the condition of Texas, and the remedy 
which it is considered necessary to apply in order that our State 
may be reconstructed upon a permanently loyal basis. 

The Situation. 
It is a fact, that the condition of public society in Texas has 
been, and is still, very desperate. A report of a special commit- 
tee of the Convention, on "Lawlessness and Violence" in Texas, 
of June 30th, last, gives the following statistics of homicides : 

Whites. Freedmen. Total. 

Killed in 1865 39 38 77 

" " 1866 70 72 142 

" " 1867 166 165 331 

" " 1868 171 133 304 

Year unknown 24 21 45 

Unknown race 40 

Total 470 429 939 

These statistics are drawn from the records of the Texas State 
Department, particularly from the official reports of the clerks 
of the district courts of forty counties ; from the records of the 
office of the Freedmen's Bureau of about sixty counties, and 
from sworn statements of competent witnesses. This latter 
source of information is, however, very incomplete, as the danger 
incurred by persons testifying to cases which had come to their 
knowledge, made them unwilling to respond to a call of the 
committee. These official statements show that 464 whites and 
373 freedmen, together 833, were killed by whites ; 10 whites and 
48 freedmen, together 58, by freedmen, and 48 persons by par- 
ties whose race was unknown. How many persons were killed, 



2 

of whose assassination no record exists, is a question which can- 
not be answered, even approximately. Many persons have mys- 
teriously disappeared, particularly individuals of the colored 
race, so that the general belief prevails that the above statistics 
do not cover one-half, perhaps not one-quarter, of the crimes 
committed during the periods mentioned. 

In examining the given figures, it will be seen that after the 
close of the rebellion the number of assassinations has steadily 
increased, reaching during the five months, from January to 
June, 1868, the frightful number of 304 cases, officially reported. 

It has been the system of the rebel press to deny the truthful- 
ness of these facts. This system is still persevered in, and for 
obvious reasons a number of men, who, though they claim to be 
Republicans, now act with the rebels of Texas in pretending that, 
since the election of General U. S. Grant, a marked decrease of 
lawlessness and crime has become manifest. In fad the assassi- 
nations, since the election of General Grant as President, have 
averaged two persons daili/. 

A supplement to the report from which the above statistics are 
taken, drawn up with the same accuracy and care, would show 
that the condition of public society has become worse and worse 
from month to month. 

General J. J. Reynolds, in an official report to the adjutant 
general of the army, bearing date fourth December last, says : 

" The civil law east of the Trinity river is almost a dead 
letter. In some counties the civil officers are all, or a portion of 
them, members of the Ku Klux Klan. In other counties the 
civil officers were compelled to leave their counties. In many 
counties where the officers have not been driven off, their influ- 
ence is scarcely felt. ******* 

" Lawless men in large bands attend the political meetings 
held under the auspices of the Democratic clubs. The speakers 
indicate, by name, those elected for murder. The men thus 
pointed out have no course left them but to leave their homes, 
or to be murdered on the first convenient opportunity. The 
murder of negroes is so common as to render it impossible to 
keep an accurate account of them. Free speech and free press 
have never existed in Texas. The official reports of lawlessness 
and crime, so far from being exaggerated, do not tell tlie whole 

" Civil courts cannot punish outlaws. Military commissions 
must show that men can be punished in Texas for murder and 
kindred crimes. This will be the worh of years." 



An official letter from Provisional Governor E. M. Pease, 
dated twenty-third December, 1868, corroborates the statement 
given by Genei-al Keynolds, and acknowledges "that no fair 
elections could be held in the state, the freedmen being debarred 
from voting by threats of violence." 

It will be understood from these statements that the cant 
phrase, " we accept the situation," has not been verified in Texas. 

The Cause. 

There can be no doubt that the diffei-ent reasons which have 
produced this lamentable state of affairs can be summed up in 
two words, " Johnson's policy." The great mass of the rebel 
population of Texas do not consider themselves as having been 
defeated in their contest with the government. State rights and 
state sovereignty are as fii-mly believed in as if no bloody arbi- 
tration had ever taken place on the battle-field. 

The encouragement given to the old Confederate leaders, and 
to the rebel party generally, by military rulers who ordered that 
military rule must be subservient to civil authority, the removal 
of General Sheridan, the untimely death of General Griffin, the 
action of governors and military commanders, trammeled as they 
were by " my policy" measures, and the influence of rebel so- 
ciety, resulted in increased disorder and lawlessness. 

A convention was chosen under a strict execution of the regis- 
tration acts, enforced by a firm military hand, which resulted in 
the election, as Republicans, of seven-eighths (!) of the delegates, 
the almost entire Democratic party having declined to partici- 
pate in the election. The result of the election led to the hope 
that the labors of the convention would be satisfactory to every 
true loyalist. 

These anticipations were, however, not realized. A consid- 
erable number of the members, calling themselves Republicans, 
did not in their actions come up to that firmness for Republican 
principles which their constituents had a right to expect. A 
constitution was framed, which gives no satisfaction or security 
to the loyal people of either color, but Avhich is heartily endorse d 
by the Democratic or rebel party, and a very few (so-called) 
Republicans. 

This new constitution recognizes the validity of rebel legisla- 
tion, so far as not prohibited by the Constitution and the laws of 
the United States, thus putting the legislation during the rebellion 



on the same footing as that of the most loyal States. This wrongs 
numberless individuals, and destroys the school fund of the State 
by declaring the payment of Confederate money and State war- 
rants, created for the furtherance of rebellion, a valid equiva- 
lent for gold claims against railroad corporations and purchasers 
of university lands. 

The new constitution abolishes the wise safeguard offered by 
the reconstruction acts, with regard to the right of suffrage, 
allowing in this respect the utmost latitude to the disloyal. As 
a provision to secure the voting privilege and other civil and 
political rights to the colored citizens, against hostile measures, 
it was proposed to insert the following section in this constitu- 
tion as a guarantee that future legislation should not abridge 
their rights : 

" We declare that the powers herein granted to the different 
departments of the government of this state are based upon the 
equality, in civil and political rights, of all human beings within 
the jurisdiction of this state, and should any department (either 
executive, legislative or judicial) attempt in any manner to de- 
prive any jierson of therein guaranteed civil and political rights, 
such attempts shall be considered as a violation of the compact 
under which the State entered the Union." 

This provision teas promptly stricken out, thus giving an earn- 
est that a repetition of the Georgia proceedings may hereafter be 
attempted. All provisions for the registry of voters, and the oath 
to support the Constitution and laws of the United States, and 
in favor of equal civil and political rights for all, were stricken 
out. These manifestations arc ominous of troubles to come, if the 
Democracy can get control of the State. 

The new constitution will undoubtedly be accepted by the 
white rebel majority, the military being hardly strong enough 
imder its present energetic commander, General Canby, to se- 
cure such peace or tranquility as may enable a ftiir canvass of 
the colored population to be made. The legislature, if elected 
under this constitution, will consist of ex-Con federates and so- 
called Republicans who act with the former. The executive and 
judicial departments Avill be filled with officers, who, though 
they may not be disqualified under the 14th amendment to the 
Constitution, are and have been, hostile to the national govern- 
ment, and the fate of the white and colored Unionists will be 
as bad as it was during the darkest days of the rebellion. 



The Remedy. 

The new Constitution should not, for the foregoing reasons, be 
submitted to the people, at such an early day, as the resolution 
of the convention contemplates, if it is to be submitted at all. 
The State will not, at that time, (1st Monday in July next,) 
be in a condition to enter upon so important an election. Our 
only hope rests with the Congress of the United States, or the 
commander of the army, that a postponement of any election 
will be ordered, until, by the strong arm of the national power, 
genuine peace is restored to the State, and that Congress will, in 
the meantime, intervene with adequate legislation to secure a re- 
modeling of the constitution, in consonance with the necessities 
and spirit of the times. 

In view of the difficulties under which we labor, in providing 
a government for our large State, the convention, at a time when 
but few of the seats of the delegates were vacant, (20th January 
last,) adopted resolutions, declaring, in effect, that the extent of 
our State, the diversified interests, and the lawlessness generally 
prevailing, rendered a division of the State necessary and proper; 
that, from its great size, covering an area of nearly three hundred 
thousand square miles, it was unwieldy, and ought to be sub- 
divided into States of more convenient size. The great diversity 
of interests of the various sections ; the marked dissimilarity of 
manners, pursuits, and habits of life of the people, distinguishing 
the eastern from the western portions of our State, render it im- 
possible to produce such harmony of action, in the State govern- 
ment, as the welfare and prosperity of the several sections de- 
mand, and thus the main object of State government (the fur- 
nishing of local government to the people) is lost. This opinion 
of our Commission is endorsed by the majority of the conven- 
tion, and by the people, in many public meetings. The plan of 
division, and the lines which find the greatest favor with the 
people, are a divison into three States, by the lines proposed in 
May, 1868, in the bill of Mr. Beaman, of Michigan, ofl!ered in 
the House of Representatives. 

This plan takes the sea-shore of the Mexican Gulf as the 
basis of division, and proposes the Colorado and Trinity rivers 
as the dividing boundaries of the three States ; and a considera- 
tion of the quality of the soil in the several sub-divisions, the 
present and probably future population, the capability of tax- 



ation, as shown by the last assessments, the sameness of interests, 
and the homogeneity of the population, in the several districts, 
and the outlets of trade thereto, recommend this plan of division 
above all others. 

The following table will show the area of the several sub-divi- 
sions, their population, as given in the United States census of 
1860, and the State taxes, as assessed in year 1867. 

Total .„^ . 

White. Colored. Popula- q„ mjiIt Taxes, 

tion. **1- ^*^''eb. 

EastTexas...l61,217... 78,083... 239,300... 32,813..$107,585 72 
Mid. " ...164,613... 77,830... 242,448... 63,423.. 272,487 41 
West " ... 94,318... 26,958. ..121,276... 96,628.. 133,667 47 



Total 420,148 182,876 603,024 192,864 $513,740 60 

The population, at this day, is variously estimated at from 
800,000 to 1,200,000 inhabitants, which would give the least 
populous sub-division, Western Texas, an aggregate of 180,000 
to 200,000 inhabitants. 

Objections to, and advantages of, a Division of the 

State. 

An objection, which is frequently stated, and liberally used, 
by the opponents of division, is the increased expense of the 
three state governments ; but a little reflection will suggest many 
instances, within the United States, which go to show that small 
State governments are cheaper, in comparison with larger ones. 
The financial advantages, on the other hand, are so manifest, 
that even an increased taxation would be easily and cheerfully 
submitted to by the new States. 

A more serious consideration is presented by the political 
consequences of a division of the State. Now, we grant, it 
looks almost paradoxical to assert that, while the undivided 
state may be carried by the old rebel element, on the other 
hand, a division into three sections would most likely ofier the 
loyalists a chance to send none but loyal men to Congress, and 
to elect three loyal State governments. This, however, we de- 
cidedly believe will be the result. A division into three terri- 
tories will give the military commanders a better chance of sup- 
pressing lawlessness; enable the loyal, especially the colored 
element, to make free use of their franchise, and thus secure an 
expression of public opinion, which, in a State of near seven 
hundred miles in width, and eleven hundred in length, without 



railroads or telegraphs, with a hostile and reckless population 
to manage, is a matter of utter impossibility. 

There being a marked difterence in the political feelings of the 
population east and west of the Colorado, it is safe to assume, 
that the people of the western State can at once be entrusted 
with self government, even granting that the two eastern States 
should for some time remain under the immediate control of the 
general government. In this connection we call attention to the 
following memorial, signed by a large majority of the members 
of the Convention present : 

Memorial from the Reconstruction Convention asking 
Congress for a Division of the State. 



To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the 

United States in Congress assembled: 

The undersigned Delegates to the Constitutional Convention 
of the State of Texas, respectfully recommend to the Congress 
of the United States that the people living west of the Colorado 
river be allowed to form a constitution and establish a State gov- 
ernment loyal to the United States, and a large majority of the 
delegates in this convention from the district embraced in the 
same, have agreed upon a constitution, which is respectfully re- 
commended by the undersigned, as oflering all the guarantees of 
a republican government to the people of that territory. 

Hall of Convention, Austin, Texas, 

January 24th, 1869. 
Signed : 

Edmund J. Davis, delegate from 62d district. 

James P. Newcomb, delegate from Bexar and other Counties. 

Andrew^ Downinc^, delegate from Bosque County. 

B. W. Gray, delegate from Red River and Titus Counties. 

A. Bledsoe, delegate from Dallas County. 

M. Kendall, delegate from Harrison County. 

S. Curtis, delegate from Brazos County. 

F. A. A'^aughan, delegate from Gaudalupe County. 

G. T. Ruby, delegate from Galveston County. 
E. Degener, delegate from Bexar County. 

W. M. Varnell, delegate from Victoria County. 

Ralf Long, delegate from Limestone County. 

Jacob Kuechler, delegate from Gillespie and other Counties. 

A. T. Monroe, delegate from Houston County. 

J. ^Y. Flanagan, delegate from Rusk County. 

N. C. Board, delegate from Harrison County. 

L. P. Harris, delegate from Upshur County. 

A. Buffington, delegate from Grimes County. 

P. P. Adams, delegate from Henderson and Anderson Counties. 



A. P. JoRDON, delegate from Goliad County. 

M. C. Hamilton, delegate from Bastrop County. 

James P. Butler, delegate from "Walker County. 

George H. Slaughter, delegate from Smith County. 

G. W. Whitmore, delegate from Smith County. 

S. MuLLiNS, delegate from Falls County. 

John H. Lippard, delegate from Freestone County. 

Wm. Johnson, delegate from Harrison County. 

W. G. Horne, delegate from Fort Bend County. 

Wm. R. Fayle, delegate from Harris County. 

J. W. Mc Washington, delegate from Montgomery County. 

H. C. Hunt, delegate from Comal and Hays Counties. 

C. W. Bryant, delegate from Harris County. 

J. R. Scott, delegate from Lavaca County. 

James Brown, delegate from Kaufman County. 

Webster Flanagan, delegate from Rusk County. 

J. A. Wilson, delegate from Milam County. 

Nathan Patten, delegate from McLellan County. 

James R. Burnett, delegate from Houston County. 

Wm. S. Philips, delegate from Wharton County. 

RoBT. K. Smith, delegate from Galveston and Harris Counties. 

C. Duval Harn, delegate from Grimes County. 

L. D. Evans, delegate from Titus County. 

W. Frank Carter, delegate from Parker County. 

An Aternative. 
But if in any event Congress may deem it improper to permit 
at present, the organization of State governments in any of the 
three proposed sub-divisions, then the undersigned request, in the 
name of the Constitutional Convention and people of the State, 
that the same be sub-divided and the different sections placed 
under separate teritorial or military governments, until such time 
as, in the opinion of Congress, there may be security for life, 
property and freedom of speech within each of them. The oper- 
ation of the clause in the constitution in relation to the franchise, 
inserted therein by cunning, with scarcely a quorum of the Con- 
vention present, will turn over the political power of the vast 
State of Texas into the hands of those who will hereafter misuse 
that power to the danger of the public safety. 
All of which is respectfully submitted. 

E. J. DAVIS, 
J. W. FLANAGAN, 
M. C. HAMILTON, 
W. M. VARNELL, 
J. R. BURNETT, 
Commissioners from the State of Texas. 



9 

APPENDIX. 

The following objections to the new proposed Constitution 
was read and spread upon the minutes of the Convention : 

Hall of the Convention, 

Austin, February 4, 1869. 
Hon. E. J. Davis, President of the Convention: 

Sir: We, the undersigned delegates to the Constitutional 
Convention of the State of Texas, do hereby express our disap- 
proval of the proposed constitution, adopted by a majority of 
this Convention. 

We object to it, because it is based upon the unwarranted 
assumption that the Constitution of the United States, with the 
treaties and laws made in pursuance thereof, and the accepted 
constitution of the State of Texas, (of 1845,) have not been 
continuously the supreme law of the land. Believing, as we do, 
that all pretended laws and judicial decisions, made within the 
nation's limits, and not authorized by, and subordinate to, the 
government of the United States, were from the beginning, and 
must remain, null and void ; and the undersigned will never 
compromise this principle for any supj)osed policy. 

We do most earnestly and solemnly protest against that provi- 
sion in the proposed constitution which extends the right of suf- 
frage to all those who voluntarily became the public enemy of 
the United States, feeling assured that it was the aim of Con- 
gress to enable the loyal people of Texas, Avithout regard to any 
distinction of race or color, to reorganize and maintain govern- 
ment in the place of that overthrown ]>y the rebellion. And 
we cannot forbear to express the conviction that the adoption, 
by the majority of the (-ouveution, of the provisions in regard 
to suffrage, was obtained by virtue of a premeditated and delib- 
erate deception, and by methods of intimidation, which deserve 
the gravest censure. 

The majority of the Convention have deliberately removed 
from the constitution every safeguard for the protection of the 
loyal v(3ters, white and black. They have stricken from that 
instrument the whole system of registry. They have repudiated 
the oath of loyalty contained in the reconstruction laws. They 
have si)urned the test of equal civil and political rights. And 
we do most solemnly call upon the registered voters of Texas to 
vindicate the national honor, and the cause of right and of jus- 
tice, by their votes. 

[Signed by] M. C. HAMILTON, of Bastrop Co. 

JAMES P. BUTLER, of Walker Co. 
and 18 others. 



JjJ^RflRY OF CONGRESS 

014 645 565 7 



